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Former President Patrice Talon has stepped down after two five-year terms.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 12 Apr 2026<\/span>12 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Polls have closed in Benin, with Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni expected to emerge victorious in a presidential election after being endorsed by the former president.<\/p>\n Nearly eight million voters were eligible to cast ballots on Sunday to choose a successor to former President Patrice Talon, 67, who is stepping down after two five-year terms.<\/p>\n In Benin\u2019s largest city, Cotonou, vote counting began late on Sunday afternoon after polling stations closed, with provisional results expected on Tuesday.<\/p>\n For Wadagni, 49, turnout will be a crucial factor after a lacklustre campaign affected by voter apathy.<\/p>\n Yvan Glidja, a man in his 30s who turned up early at a school-turned-polling station in Cotonou to vote for Wadagni, said people \u201cmust vote\u201d to ensure Wadagni wins.<\/p>\n In the district of Zongo, Talon, who could not run for a third term under the constitution, was greeted by cheering supporters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best is to come for Benin. My wish is to see a great and powerful Benin in which everyone finds their place,\u201d Talon said, leaving the polling booth.<\/p>\n Talon added that he intended to \u201cretire\u201d and would not look to influence his successor, but added that \u201cit is illusory to think that one can fade into the background\u201d.<\/p>\n Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpe, an opposition figure whose campaign has needed help from majority lawmakers to gain the parliamentary endorsements required to get on the ballot.<\/p>\n In the town of Bopa, where he once served as mayor, Hounkpe called on \u201call Beninese\u201d to \u201cfulfil their duty\u2026 to turn a page\u201d in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n Under Talon, Benin has experienced rapid growth, with gross domestic product (GDP) doubling during his decade in power and numerous infrastructure projects completed. Even so, a wealth gap remains.<\/p>\n The winner of the vote will also face challenges with insecurity. The north of the country has increasingly experienced violence from armed fighters from the Jama\u2019at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate that has spilled over from the Sahel region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Former President Patrice Talon has stepped down after two five-year terms. Published On 12 Apr 202612 Apr 2026 Polls have closed in Benin, with Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni expected to emerge victorious in a presidential election after being endorsed by the former president. Nearly eight million voters were eligible to cast ballots on Sunday to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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